PHILADELPHIA – The Columbia baseball team is headed back to the Ivy League Playoff Series for the second straight year after blanking a high-powered Penn offense, 4-0, in the final game of the regular season. The Lions fell to the Quakers, 5-2, in game one of the twinbill and faced elimination if they dropped the finale. However, Ethan Abrams pitched 6.2 scoreless and Liam McGill drove in a pair of runs to lift Columbia to its eighth conference postseason appearance.
"We talk about facing adversity all the time and how we react to it," said head coach Brett Boretti. "We came in a little shorthanded and get beat badly in game one and Ben Wereski has to leave game one early. I give our pitching staff credit for coming through to give us a shot in the first game. Unfortunately, it didn't go our way. But to pick ourselves up in the last one to shutout a tremendous offensive team and then Ethan Abrams and Leo Pollack carried us in game two was unbelievable. I think to put up a run (in the first inning) in that second game energized us and stayed with us the whole way and we found a way into the postseason."
The Lions (19-21, 13-8) will meet up with Harvard (24-13, 13-7) in Cambridge May 18-19. Columbia still can hold a share of the Ivy League title if the Crimson drops their final game against Brown Sunday. Harvard earned the right to host the best-of-three series due to its regular season 2-1 record against the Lions.
GAME ONE
Penn scored four in the bottom of the eighth to erase a 2-1 deficit and take game one. Peter Matt started the rally with a single and Chris Adams singled him home to tie things up. After a walk and sacrifice, Matt McGeagh hit a sac fly to plate the go-ahead run and Matt O'Neill delivered a two-run blast to give the Quakers more breathing room.
Columbia tried to mount a rally in the ninth, recording a leadoff single, however, a double play halted the first chance at a comeback. After Josh Nicoloff posted a two-out single, Holcomb slammed the door with a strikeout, leaving the tying run on deck.
In the top of the fourth, Penn grabbed the 1-0 lead on Chris Larsen's RBI fielder's choice. The Quakers had an opportunity to build the lead even more with the bases loaded and one out before Tim Post came on to record back-to-back strikeouts to keep it a one-run ballgame.
The Lions took advantage with two runs in the fifth, using a leadoff double from Julian Bury to set up a Liam McGill RBI single. Later in the frame, Ben Porter knocked in the go-ahead run with a base knock. In the sixth, it was Columbia who missed out on a golden chance. With the bases loaded, Mitchell Holcomb came up with a pair of key strikeouts and McGill's deep fly ball to center died at the fence for a catch to retire the side.
Dan Harrington (1-2) pitched the final 1.2 for the Lions, giving up four runs on five hits. Columbia's first four batters, Bury, Joe Engel, Chandler Bengtson and McGill, all had two hits. The Lions stranded 13 runners in the game.
Holcomb sent down eight batters in his 6.1 innings out of the bullpen. He came into the contest with two outs and two on in the third and scattered nine hits and allowed the two runs.
GAME TWO
The Lions started things off with runs in the first and second innings. In the first, McGill found space through the left side of the infield to bring in Engel from second. Columbia loaded the bases in the following frame and doubled the advantage thanks to a Julian Bury RBI single that dropped in fair down the rightfield line. With the bases still juiced and two away, Tommy Courtney made a diving play in centerfield to rob Chandler Bengtson of extra bases and keep Penn within striking distance.
From there, Abrams was able to weave in and out of trouble, working his way out of a pair of two-on jams in the third and fourth innings. After a 1-2-3 sixth, Penn threatened again in the seventh, putting runners on first and second with two away. Leo Pollack entered the game and gave up a fly ball to McGeagh that was caught at the wall by Porter to keep Penn off the board.
Columbia took advantage in the top of the eighth when McGill delivered an opposite-field homer to right-center to pad the lead, 3-0. Josh Nicoloff kept the line moving with a hustle double after the leftfielder delayed in getting the ball back into the infield. Ben Porter made Penn pay with an RBI single to knock in the fourth run of the ballgame.
Pollack finished the game, retiring the final six Quakers in order for his second save of the year.
Abrams scattered seven hits in his outing and struck out one to improve to 3-2 on the year. Engel was 2-for-3 and Bury's RBI single pushed his hitting streak to 13 games, which is a career-high.
